A PSA

Cipro is EVIL. Do not take it unless you have no other choice. I went to the Oak Street MediCenter on Saturday (1.17) with an ear infection. The doc confirmedit, gave me vicodin and Cipro, and I tottered out. I took three doses. Let me run down my reactions:

1. Insomnia. Not just my normal no sleeping. I took enough vicodin, melatonin, and Tylenol PM to knock out a rhino. NO SLEEP.
2. Anxiety. My anxiety is pretty well controlled at this point. I have some panic due to stress, but that's normal. Hubby found me in bed, tearing at my arm with my nails. This is NOT NORMAL for me!
3. Muscle/ligament/tendon pain. After three doses, I knew damn well that something wasn't right. I call the doc, got a scrip for amoxycillin on Monday, 1.20. My hips were aching a little bit. By Thursday, I could barely walk. Now, I'm not the most athletic bird in the universe, but there's no fucking way that I would go from being able to walk, climb stairs, dance, etc to hobbling around like and arthritic turtle with pain in EVERY FUCKING JOINT. Saw the doc on Thursday, he told me that since I caught the bad reaction early, there's a very good chance the joint damage will heal. Lovely.

I am feeling better, but this drug has an FDA-mandated black box warning about joint damage! It can cause hallucinations, permanant hearing/taste damage, and permanent joint problems. Giving it to someone with no history of resistant ear infections is like using a nuclear bomb to kill a gnat.